PPCC Guest Speaker Provides Information on How to Protect Against Fraud and Scams

By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor

Targeted Outreach Specialist Jackie Wiley—with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation—informed Palisadians of common scams, ID theft, online and phone threats, and more during the February 22 Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting.

Wiley explained the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation is a licensing and regulatory agency with oversight of state-financial institutions, products and professionals. This means the agency licenses state-chartered banks and credit unions, finance lenders, escrow agents, debt collectors and more. The agency examines companies to ensure compliance with state and federal law, and takes action against those operating illegal, deceptive or abusive practices, and investigates consumer complaints.

The agency also educates Californians to help avoid financial harm and make safe financial decisions, Wiley said.

“I do presentations, like I’m doing tonight, to help avoid becoming a victim of financial fraud and scams, and to help people make financial decisions safely,” she said during the meeting.

Wiley said everyone should be aware of common methods of contact, including vishing—via telephone—phishing—via computer/email—and smishing—via text messages.

“They came up with these three new names during the pandemic,” Wiley explained. “All three of these methods of contact have the same thing in common: they are convincing, they play on our emotions and it’s always about a sense of urgency. They want us to act quickly so they can ‘rectify our situation and help us resolve something.’”

The scammers act to gain personal and financial information to deplete individuals’ accounts.

Some of the most common financial fraud and scams, which have become very prevalent, Wiley said, include government or business impostors.

“Calls can be spoofed to make you believe that the call is legitimate,” Wiley said. “For instance, it’s tax time. We’re probably going to start getting a lot of the impostor IRS phone calls … Please be mindful, and know that government agencies don’t and won’t call us.”

Scammers often pose as the IRS, Social Security or a utility company. Wiley advised Palisadians to not click any links or respond to call numbers posing as these agencies, and to never provide personal information to unknown numbers.

Wiley also advised to bypass using your PIN when shopping with a debit card, using an anti-fraud gel pen when writing a check, and monitoring and freezing credit.

Those who have fallen victim to a financial scam can contact the DFPI at dfpi.ca.gov, the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov or Cyber Crime at ic3.gov.